Summary:
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Incident Overview: Norway’s Institute of Marine Research is reconfiguring its underwater observatory after a mysterious incident in April 2021 left a section of its seafloor cable severed. The Lofoten-Vesteralen Ocean Observatory went silent, prompting an investigation.
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Investigation Findings: Acoustic engineer Guosong Zhang found that a Russian trawler had repeatedly crossed the cable’s location at the time of the outage, suggesting possible deliberate sabotage. However, police investigations remain inconclusive.
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Response and Adaptation: The Institute has decided to replace the compromised cable section with wireless modules. While this reduces data transmission capacity, it aims to enhance security and resilience against potential threats in an era of heightened geopolitical tensions.
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